Pressure-gas holder



A. F. BRIDGE.

PRESSURE GAS HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED APR.21,1921.

' 1 42 1 5 Patentd Aug. 15, 1922..

I tribution system. Thisof courseentails the initialexpenditure.necessary for such a Improvements in Pressure-Gas Holders,of

which the following is a specification.

' This invention has to do with holders for- ARTHUR BRIDGE, orLos'AnGELns, cnnrron nrm.

PRESSURE-G-A HOLDER.

essrs.

To all whom it may concern citizen of the United States, residing at LosAn eles, in the county of Los Angeles, State aalifornia, have inventednew and useful the storage of gasesunder pressure; any kind of gas inany kind of system. The in view offuel gas storage in connection withfuel gas distribution; and, as the invention.

and its advantages may perhaps-be most readily understood from adescription of its specific adaptation and application to such uses, inthefollowing specification a specific.

form of the invention will be so described,

however without limiting the invention in; in its broader aspects. Itwill further be understood that one of the features of this invention isthe provision of means for economically and effectively storing largequantities of gas under pressure; theinvention being applicable to largeoperations and large capacities .The invention is designed, in thespecific application herein spoken of, to overcome certaindifiicultieswhich inhere in the present known type of gas holders usedfor fuel gas distribution. These holdersare of two types, the well knowntelescoping tank type sealed with a water seal, and the ordinary plainpressure tank. The telescoping tank type has the disadvantage that it isnot capable, as economically constructed, to store gas under a pressureof more than a few ounces I or so. Inmany gas distribution systems atpresent the distributing systenris operated at what is known as highpressure that is a pressure of a pound'or several pounds above-,atmosphere; so that it 1s necessary w th these low pressure tanks toemploy a compressor plant (a pressure booster system) to take the gasout of the tankand put it into the CllS- constant cost can of course becharged with gas under.

pressure to any pressure which the tank will stand, its distinctdisadvantage is due to the fact that the tank can. never be entirelyemptied of gas; the capacity of the tank at wherein: I I The figurevrepresents -a fverticalucentral section of the holder,'togetherwith suchaccompanying apparatus as mayb'eflused to fill serial No. 463,245.

I g eeificationof Letterslatent. 15, 1922.

Application filed April 21, 1921. i

one atmosphere pressure always remaining therein.

I It is a general object of this invention to provide a pressure gasholder which overcomes the difficulties hereinabove mentioned I andwhich, among other features, is part idularly adapted to large scalestorage. Such objects and corresponding advantageous features Wlll bebest understoodfrom a description of the specific and preferredformwhich this invention may take asapplied to'fuel gas distributingsystems and for: that pur pose av specific form "of'thc holder'is'illustrated in the accompanying i and discharge the-tank.

comprises mainly an upright steelcylindri real body 1O divided aboutmidwayb-y, a hori zontal partition diaphragm ll, and'having acommunicating pipe 12, preferably central, which extends frompartitionl1 to the botdrawings, I

The holder according to this inventiontom of thetank and communicatesWltlrihe I chamber A above the partitionand 'lcommunicates at its lowerend with thechamber 13 below the partition. For thepurpos'e of .tlllSlast communication therrlower' end of pipe 12 may be perforatedasindicated at 13. The pipe 12 may notonly form the means of communicationbetween. two chambers but 9O to assist in supporting the partition .11...Stay l bolts liniay also be used to :support the also form a.structural part of-the tank partition 11 against the internal. pressure;

these stay bolts extending vertically between I I partition 11 andbottom 15in the'tank, tying the bottom and the partition together. I

The gas inlet and outlet to the tank may be located at 16 near the topof thelower chamber 11- In the drawing this inlet isshowncommunicatingby suitable pipe systeniwith regulator atl? being the onevthrough which the gas is put intothe tank andthe one at 18 being thatthroughwhich the is taken out of the tank.

Gas isrthen forcedin under pressure, grade 'ually displacingthe waterfrom the lower chamber, this water rising through the com- 1 a chargingpressure regulator 17 and a disl ,chargingpres'sure regulator 18;thepressure municating pipe 12 into the upper chamber A. above diaphragmll. lVhen. the. lower chamber lilled to capacity with gas, all, orsubstantially all, of the water has then been forced into the pipe 12and the upper chainher; and the pressure on the gas isthen of ins;plant.

course equal to the hydrostatic head above it. In charging the-ta11lr,-pressurc regulator 17 may be set to pass gas only ,up to thepressure of that maximum hydrostatic head; so that no manual attendanceis required "for Y filling the tanleonce the pressure regulator we beenproperly set.

Pressure regulator 18 is set to deliver gas at the pressure required inthe distributing system; a pressure of one pound per square inch. itsthe discharges fromthe tank the water passes from the upper to the lowerchamber, displacing the gas, until all or substantially all of the gashas been driven out under the hydrostatic head. 'Upper chamber A abovediaphragm 11 may be made somewhat larger than the lower chamber B, sothat, when practically all of the gas has been driven out, there willstill remain in the upper chamber a. sufficient llQiLClOf water tocreate the desired pressure, for instance,

one pound per square inch, to force out substantially all of the gas;and, as will be readily seen, the amount of pressure upon the gas .asthe last portion of it is being displaced from the tank, may beregulated and controlled by varying the total amount of water placed inthe tank, thereby varying the amount of water which remains 1n the upperchamberwhen the gas is practically entirely displaced from the lowerchamber. This amount or water may of course be so regulated, inconsonance with the adjust- 4O ment of outlet pressure regulator 18, tonot quite raise the water level in the lower chamber to outlet 16, toprevent water from being formed in that outlet. This can also be takencare of by a trap at 30.

rations 13 and flow up throughpipe 12 and through the body of waterabove.

Practically all of the gas may be discharged, as has been described; andmay be discharged at a comparatively high pressure .thatserves to feeddirectly distribution systems without the necessity o'l any compress-The construction, and the relative placement of thebody of water,reduces the net outward pressure on. the top and bottom of the gaschamber; and the "fact that the top and. bottom of the gas chamberitself are fixed in relation to each other (1n contradis 'inction to therelatively movable top and b ttomot a telescoping tank) makes itpossible to connect the top and bottom by staybolts, as. described. itwill be noted that the weight of water on top diaphragm 11 conntcbalances a great part oi the interiorgas pressure; on the average,eounterbalances about h alt of the interior gas pressure. This will bereadily seen, without the necessity of :turther specific illustration,when it is noted that the hydrostatic head between upper water level. Land lower water level L, (which is the hydrostatic head upon the gas inthe lower chamber, and therefore .the hydrostatic head pressingupwardly'on diaphragm 11) is, at all times about twice the hydrostatichead betweenv level L, and the diaphragm 11 Consequently the.hydrostatic head above diaphragm 11 opposes about hali of the internal,gas pressure. This circumstance materially reduces the required weightof metal and simplifies and chea-pens the construction.

l l hile the foregoing description is. specific as applied to a typicalform of this invention, it will be understood that the invention is notnecessarily limited in its broader aspects to the specific preferreddetail herein set out; and that the invention is not limited except asexpressly. so limited by the following claims which. are to be read intheir broad as well as their more specific inter- .pretation.

Having described apreterred form ofmy invention, 1 claim:

1. ll. gas holder, embodying an upright shell, a horizontal partitionacross itslcentral portion formingan' upper water chamber and lower gaschamber, means to admit to the lower chamber, and to withdraw from theupper part or the lower chamber under suitable pressures, an uprightpipe in the lower chamber connected with the bottom and with thepartition to form a stay connection. between them and to form a supportfor the partition, and other stays extendin between the bottom andpartition to stay them substantially over their entire surfaces; thepipe having communication at its upper end with the upper water chamherand having communication at its lower end with the lower part or thelowergas chamber.

2. A gas holder, embodying an upright shell, a horizontalpartitionacross itscentral portion forming an upper water chamber and a lower gaschamber, means to admit to the lower chamber, at a pressuresubstantially equalto the maximum hydrostatic head on the gas in saidchamber when substantially all the water is displaced int-0 the upperchamber, and to withdraw gas from the upper part of the lower chamberunder a pressuresubstantially equal to the hydrostatichead when water inthe lower chamber rises to substantially the level of l the upper Waterchainber and having comthe outlet, an upright pipe in the lowermunication at its lower end with the lower'lo phamber connected with thebottom and the part of the lower as chamber. partition to form a stayconnection between In Witness that claim the foregoing I them, and otherstays extending between the have hereunto'subs'cribed my name this 16thbottom and partition to stay them substanday of April, 1921. tially overtheir entire surfaces the pipe having conimiinication at its upper endWith i ARTHUR F. BRIDGE. Y i I

